The Trump administration announced on Tuesday the termination of four employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which includes the agency’s chief financial officer. This decision came as a response to their involvement in the allocation of federal funds designated for housing migrants in hotels across New York City.

This dramatic development unfolded after Elon Musk made a controversial social media statement on Monday morning, falsely asserting that FEMA had recently redirected $59 million, intended for disaster relief efforts, to cover the costs of “luxury hotels” for migrants. He deemed this expense illegal.

In light of Musk’s claims, officials from New York City quickly clarified that the federal funds had been appropriately disbursed by FEMA under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. the previous year, explaining that these funds were not a disaster relief grant and were not used for extravagant accommodations.

However, shortly after Musk’s post, FEMA’s acting director, Cameron Hamilton, declared that all payments in question had been suspended, despite the fact that most of the money had already been allocated. He emphasized that “personnel will be held accountable” for the decisions made.

By Tuesday morning, approximately 24 hours after Musk’s statement, the Trump administration had acted on its promise. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, stated that the four individuals were dismissed for going around leadership to authorize unreasonable payments for upscale New York City hotels for migrants.

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